Review Archive: C

8 A.M. All Day  

My brother let me borrow this CD saying "I think you'll like it." He was so right. I don't really know how to describe Chisel: they're poppy, they're energetic, they're fast, they're slow, they got backup vocals in all the right places...it's just damn good music. The songs are the kind that you end up singing to yourself long after the album's over. This is a really pathetic review for a great album. Highly recommended.

Shit Edge and Other Songs for the Young and Sentimental  

They pinpointed their listening audience with that title. This is mainly for all those Christ on a Crutch fans who need to hear more than their Crime Pays When Pigs Die LP. Most of the material on this CD was recorded around 1990, prior to their full length. This isn't all that essential but I guess there was enough demand to compile an album. You can hear a definite improvement in the time covered here — they sound more focused and the vocals have much more feeling on the later tracks including "Nation of Sheep," "Paranoid World Vision," and especially "Fish People." If you're into songs about police and religion being poisons, you'll be down with this. [Brian Chapman]

From Here to Eternity Live  

Plain and simple, The Clash were (are) one of the best bands ever, not just because of their music, but also for the impact they had on punk (and rock in general). I was just a youngster when The Clash were in their heyday and never was able to see/hear them live. From Here to Eternity Live combines songs from various live Clash shows from 1978 to 1982, but still doesn't seem to capture the band's "real" live energy. Recently seeing old footage of the band (like VH1's "Legends") got me real excited for this CD, but overall I was left wanting. Don't get me wrong, it does have some very good material (obviously, or I wouldn't have chosen it for Album of the Month): "Complete Control" starts the album off right before blasting through "London's Burning", "What's My Name", "Clash City Rockers", and "Career Opporunities". The classic rock-reggae "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" leads into "Capital Radio" and "City of the Dead" — no problem so far. But after that, things seem to lose focus and tends to drag on in parts, and "Should I Stay or Should I Go", despite being much better than the studio version, shouldn't be here ("White Riot" anyone?). Perhaps The Clash was one of those bands you just had to experience in person and doesn't translate as well to audio alone, but it's still a decent CD (especially the first half).